Thursday, 20 September 2012

Julia Child would be proud!

It is Thursday already; our week is coming to an end.

Today we will see the lunches of Gabriel, Deviana, Amelia and Ezra.

Gabriel is half Brazilian, like me. At times we speak briefly in Portuguese, followed by some giggles. It still amazes me, how the children can swap from one language to another in a moment. Well, back to his lunch! Today Gabriel had raisin bread with cheese, a strawberry cereal bar on the left and juice on the right. His mother said that Gabriel loves raisins.

Deviana’s lunch was a novelty for us. She is from Sri Lanka and her mother was kind enough to share some information about today’s lunch. The lunch is called Kiribath (pronounced Kiri Buth in the Sinhalese language). Its translation is milk rice. It is a very traditional dish and is always served at celebratory occasions in Sri Lanka (from birthdays, christenings and key holidays to Christmas and the first day of school). It is traditionally served for breakfast on the first day of every month.
Deviana loves eating it because the rice is soft and creamy and the palm sugar is sweet! She also has two fruit choices. Tradition holds that, at the naming ceremony for Prince Gamini (who became the most famous king of Sri Lanka, 164 BC – 140 BC), Kiribath was served to the guests.

Amelia’s lunch would make Julia Child’s proud! Boeuf Bourguignon, a dish created in the Bourgogne province of France, her mother told us. It is a traditional French dish. The dish was created to be economical for average French citizens: it is made of easily-accessible and affordable ingredients. She also has a cheese stick, juice and blueberries.

Ezra’s lunch today is a sandwich, carrots, apple, some cheddar cheese crackers and a doughnut. Ezra is half French and he was very eager to have the picture of his lunch taken. He wishes all a Bon Appétit!
Food-o-meter: 10/10
Bites: unknown
Eating with the mouth closed: apart from two little reminders we did great!
Speaking with the mouth full: nearly there!!!!
Food dropped or spilled on the floor: we forgot to look!

8 comments:

Hallo VEG!About your blog talk in Ukraine even.It's interesting to read. In my country child nutrition control special services, but there are unfortunate incidents in school canteens sometimes.Your blog would be inspire pupils in Ukraine, I think. The best wishes to your.Sorry my English.Serge

Well, not too bad again, these meals.Though if that raisin bread is anything close to the raisin bread sold here in Germany, which is kinda sweetish, putting cheese upon it is... interesting ^^

And a Boeuf Bourguignon with rice.. tsk.. tsk.. tsk.. Wouldn't say that is traditional. At least never seen it served like that in a restaurant. Bread or potatoes would be "traditional", I guess.. Nonetheless it's tasty with rice, too ;) I wonder though, if a main ingredient of the Boeuf Bourguignon is in the meal - Burgundy wine. In France I think nobody thinks twice about serving children a dish prepared with wine (because the alcohol has usually been cooked away, with just the taste staying in the meal) but I guess in the USA (and even to a lesser amount here in Germany) many parents seem to think it would mean to lead to an early addiction to alcohol for their children.

I'd say the main ingredient of Boeuf Bourguignon is most certainly beef! ^^ It certainly looked delicious too, and I think the reference to traditional stopped there at the Bourguignon; the rice is obviously a more modern accompaniment for 'average' French families while still being particularly scrummy! :)

I agree with many of your comments over the weeks, but not with your assertion that alcohol is usually cooked away—I have witnessed the effect of such food on someone who is alcohol-intolerent. Google "alcohol cooked off" = http://www.ochef.com/165.htm

Interesting link, Cyril.Alas, usually for a roast sauce (or something like that, Goulash or Boef Bourguignon) the wine is used right after the basic ingredients have been roasted. So the wine is put undiluted into the hot pan / pot, going to boiling point of water immediately. In these cases most (or in case of the Boef Bourguignon, where a lot of wine is used: a lot) of the alcohol is cooked off even before further fluid (water / broth) is added.Another thing to consider is the amount of alcohol added to the meal. In an Boef Bourguignon for four people there's about a 0.7 l bottle of wine involved. Thats 700ml or grams. Wine has somewhere between 12 and 14% alcohol in it. That's about 98 gram of alcohol. After three hours of cooking - which is the normal time for a Boef Bourguignon - less then 5% of this is left. Thats about 5 grams of alcohol. For 4 servings. So 1.25 grams of alcohol per serving left.Not sure what that would do to a dry alcohol addict - ain't got any dry ones in my family or among the people I know, all still happily drinking - but even to a small child I suppose it doesn't make much of an impact.

But of course any parent should do the maths involved himself and think about if he/she would want the children to consume any alcohol at all. Meals for which the wine is - IMHO - a vital ingredient for the special taste like Boef Bourguignon or Coq au Vin - which, without wine, would be Boef and Coq - might not be a good choice though for a child whose parents don't want it to consume alcohol. ;)